The Miami Heat made the best of their opportunity versus a bottom seed Western Conference Sacramento Kings squad on Sunday evening, earning a bounce back win with a final score of 114-108.
The victory improved Miami’s record to 4-6 on the season and dropped the Kings’ to an abysmal 1-9 overall. To Sacramento’s credit, they remained in reach up until the final minute— battling back from a blown 16-point Heat lead earlier in the game.
Darius Acuff Jr. was a problem for Miami to contain, who had the full green light in scoring and playmaking duties with Domantas Sabonis sidelined due to injury. Acuff totaled a game-high 32 points with 10 assists, 5 rebounds and over 50% shooting. He is making an early case for the Rookie of the Year award.
But outside of Acuff, no other Kings player scored over 15 points. It was a much better defensive team effort for the Heat, as they forced 18 turnovers to Miami’s 13.
Coach Erik Spoelstra made his first starting lineup change of the season by replacing the struggling Andrew Wiggins with Pelle Larsson. In his first start, Larsson scored 11 points on 3 of 4 shooting from 3-point range. But it was Giannis Antetokounmpo that led the way throughout— along with Klay Thompson catching fire in the third quarter— that helped get it done for Miami the most.
Antetokounmpo submitted an elite well-rounded effort with a team-high 29 points, 14 rebounds double-double. His impact was felt defensively, as the star secured two steals and two blocks on the night. Thompson added 22 points, including seven-made 3-pointers. Bam Adebayo continues to play well next to Antetokounmpo, as Miami’s big man dropped 18 points and 8 boards. Lastly, Davion Mitchell submitted a double-double of his own with 17 points and 11 assists.
The Heat shot 50% from the field and 42% from deep as a team, while holding Sacramento to 46% and 30%, respectively. Miami lost the rebounding battle 44-36, but finally leaned into their defense to still secure stops on route to the win. They have gone 4-2 over their last six games and will now take on the Utah Jazz Tuesday for the next matchup to conclude their five-game West Coast trip.
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I’m trying to stay positive, but this game falls into the same collective strength parameters as every other game this year except one. Our performances have actually been fairly consistent. The differences in outcomes have been more about the quality of the opposition. To me, the only game that raised hopes for the team raising its level of play was the Atlanta game, and even that win was against a marginal play-off team. And that was just one in ten. Every other game has offered evidence of us playing at a play-in level, maybe as a ninth or tenth seed.
After ten games the likelihood is we are what we appear to be. If that is so, the acquisition of Giannis has created an all in situation where it is a necessity to upgrade this team in any way possible. And by upgrading, that doesn’t mean opening up one weakness to eliminate another. Every now and then players become available. No one becoming available is going to be perfect, but some are potentially helpful. One such player, Kevin Porter Jr., just became available. These are the opportunities the Heat must consider. We aren’t going to get a whole lot better by some kind of magic. We can’t count on player growth, or coaching, or strategy, or personnel switches. Those approaches may help a little, but not enough. We must go outside the organization to improve enough to move the needle. Maybe not KPJ, as he has a past, but maybe still. Positionally, he is exactly where we should be looking.
Still nothing to be be happy about. The starting lineup with Pelle seems to be the best we have, but that also means that bench stinks.
Mitchell played 40 minutes, and Klay 32. If one of those two goes down, what s next?
Michael Beasley?
Don’t see a lot of joy out there on the floor from either players or coaches. So far can’t say they’ve beaten any good teams. Spo seems to be struggling again with his lineups and play time. Again, being a big fan of chemistry…haven’t seen much of anything. Well…still it’s still early.
The Good:Best defensive effort this season by the Heat.Good performance by the starters, Giannis continues to lead the pack deservedly.Klay though not as fast but continues to make good comeback to the Old Klay.
The Bad:Wigging and Hardaway continues to struggle.Turnovers continue to plague the Heat.
The Ugly:The scary fall by the Kings player fortunately no noticeable injury was sustained.
One day at a time. This group is either going to gel and take their game to the next level or remain in a long protracted funk. If it’s the latter, I don’t think Riley, Spo or the fans will put up with that very long.
The whole purpose of bringing Giannis in was to avoid prolonged mediocrity, not to perpetuate it.